[sam_paine]

What crud! This reporter, reporting on the reporter admits that the formal policy is that there is no personal email....yet "everybody does it, don't they?" So it should be ok. And he shouldn't be fired for something that small.

So if the guy writes a libelous article, on the paper's letterhead, and publishes it, then the paper is not responsible, right? The paper -IS- the employees!!! What they do affects the whole company, and all the other people that have mouths to feed!!

What an idiot.

[JimSEA]

Total agreement with you here. The ideas expressed in the e-mail are secondary to the use of the Times server. In fact, the content of the letter doesn't sound much different than LA Times editorials. However, as an employer, you have to control the use of your assets. If he had been fired for the content only, then there would be a problem (conservative or liberal ideas unless there is an employment contract restricting how you can express yourselves).